Hi all,

I've been fighting a brake pull for the past few weeks. If I hit the brakes, the car will want to pull left pretty hard at any speed. It makes the steering wheel move left on its own.

The pads were replaced a few months ago and all was fine. Both calipers were replaced in 2010. A few days ago, I had someone sit in the car and apply the brakes with the wheels lifted and I could see the right side didn't grip very well. I replaced the right caliper and bled it. I also made sure that the pad and rotor surfaces were clean. It looked like there was plenty of fluid coming out of the bleeder screw. It didn't solve the problem.

I'm confident that the rear brakes are fine. I saw no fluid leaks when I removed the drums. When I give the wheels a hard spin, I get about a revolution from each side. I also applied the e-brake while going about 25mph and the car came to a gentle, even stop.

So back to the front right brake. With some daylight, I was able to see that there might be a pad contact issue. It looks only about the top half of the outer pad is contacting the rotor based on the different patterns on the rotor.

So now what? Should I change the pads? Could I still have a bad brake hose? Bad rotor? Suspension issue?

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions!

 

What about your brake line on the right front wheel, has it been changed? Are the bleeders on top of the calipers or on the bottom? A left rear brake out of adjustment will cause this also.

 

I replaced the front brake hoses in the fall of 2010. The bleeders are on the top of the calipers.

I'm not completely ruling out an issue with the rear brakes, but I'm pretty sure they are fine.

 

do the pads slide freely in the calipers, I had one truck where every time i changed the pads the drvrs side needed to be releived to allow it to freely slide in the caliper...I figured it out when one of the OEM pads came out worn at an angle

 

I believe so. If there is no pressure on the pads, they can move a little and don't seem to bind. Easy to remove and install, too.

 

I snapped a picture of the rotor this morning. The outside portion of the rotor looks shinier than the inner. I will double check this evening, but I don't think the driver's side rotor looked like that. Does it look there is an issue with the pad contacting the rotor? Would a brake hose issue cause that or is something else going on?

 

Did you cut the rotors and reuse the old pads?

 

There were no grooves, ridges, etc. There was no pedal pulsation either, so I didn't have the rotors turned. The pads were new, replacing the previous set which were worn out.

 

Ok, so you have new pads on uncut rotors. It may be just a matter of them wearing in to seat on the rotors.

 

The pads have a few hundred miles on them. When I first replaced them, there was no pull, but it started to appear and it's severe now. The car is not safe to drive. Is it time to replace that rotor and the pads? Could the brake hose on that side be the culprit?

 

I won't rule out a brake line as you have already done what I would do. Your sure you bled all the air out and your using dot 3 fluid?

 

Definitely Dot 3 fluid. I've never used anything else except on my motorcycle. I have speed bleeders on the calipers, so I bled the front right without help after replacing the caliper. The clear tube from the bleeder appeared to be free of air. It might not hurt to try it again. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do that tonight.

 

Update:

I replaced the right caliper and both brake hoses. It pulled a little when I first started driving, but it seemed to steadily improve as I drove it. I think all is well. I'll update again in a few days. Thanks for the help and have a great 4th!

 

Great, some things are just trial and error.

 

if hose is bad, or caliber, the car will pull to opposite side, bad rt side, will pull to left